The JFK museum in Boston has/had a video of JFK talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis. It addressed, in the first few minutes, a question which has always bothered me. JFK states: "Of course we knew ICBMs were in the future. It was really a matter of face saving."

This suggests that it did not matter technically whether missiles were in Cuba or in Russia. The most likely distinction could be that Castro was just a little crazier and more intent on revenge than the Russians.